I think this too, R&D timeline isn't the same as product release timeline. I remember when the iPad came out, everyone was all, "this is just a bigger iPhone". But I mean, after prototypes and so on slowly leak out, it is a sure bet that Apple started making a tablet before they would a phone, so the opposite is far more likely, that the iPhone we got was a small iPad!
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Apple Designer on Why Curved Glass and Extruded Aluminum iPhone Designs Were Rejected
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But wouldn't that require some pretty complex component placement? I mean, it's fairly easy to make curved glass and curved metal but how easily can you make curved batteries and curved flash memory?
A flat design probably allows for the most efficient use of internal space as opposed to a curved design. The new iPhone looks to be significantly thinner than the current 4/4S, despite not gaining much in terms of height and staying the same width. I suspect the total volume of the new iPhone will be no greater, maybe even lower than the 4S. If it does include LTE, a larger battery and all that jazz, that would be one hell of an accomplishment.
Does anyone know the total volume, not weight, of the iPhone 4S compared to the larger screened Samsung, LG and HTC handsets? The Galaxy S3 is slightly thinner but it's a heck of a lot taller and wider.
This is one of the reasons I'm pleased Apple hasn't gone down the rout of massive screens. It's all well and good having a huge screen but there's something pleasing about having a smartphone that's really pocket sized but still has the grunt to do some fairly complex stuff. Even with the rumoured increased height of the new iPhone it would remain tiny by comparison with many handsets and, being that it looks significantly thinner, will be even more pocket friendly.
This!
I think part of what makes Apple so great is that we only get to see those designs that are truly great, and the simplicity of the lineup of products generally works very well as a whole.
To see all these prototypes might be interesting for some of us from a designer point of view, but it certainly subtracts from the Apple magic. I have designed some products as well and would not like the general public to see earlier prototypes.
I don't know. Seeing the huge amount of work and attention to detail that went into creating these devices has increased, not decreased, the respect I have for Apple's industrial design team.
I guess it can work both ways. But as Apple normally does not share this kind of information, I think they would prefer to keep it secret. There are discoveries you make, positively or negatively, that you want to keep to yourself in the design process. Otherwise you would have to patent even more things, even the ones you don't plan to use. Showing the path that you took to the final product just gives competitors a lot of insight in your workings.
If Apple wanted to impress us, they could bring out a book or add prototypes to their website to show off. I don't think it's in their interest to do so, but they are being forced by these court cases.
We will see how it pans out!
Cases they filed themselves. In other words : they brought it on themselves, so I doubt they feel sad or down by this. Apple doesn't care so much about its past, at least in the Steve days when he said that after you've shipped, you move on to something new, you don't dwell on your success.
For varying degrees of awesome
I nearly bought the Lumia 800, but two months after they released it they pre-announced the 900, so I stuck with iPhone. I'm pleased with my choice, because not upgrading the Lumia to WP8 is a real dick move. Imagine if Apple cut off iPhones from the latest iOS after just one year. Unimaginable.
B-s. Mango phones will be getting 7.8 update next year.
What part of Mango phones getting a 7.8 upgrade means they'll get a WP8 upgrade, which the OP *very* clearly referenced?
I wonder how bad the design would have to be that people didn't queue all night to get the latest model? Or would it, by definition, be a good design because it came out of Apple?
Sarcasm? Because this is precisely about making a better phone.
I don't know about glass, or this specific glass, but often times a curve towards the impact point makes a material stronger, if it has some flex in the first place.
Personally, I don't like any sort of curve. Back or front. Not for a mini-computer with a touchscreen. (women: opposite story)
These exhibits mount to support the claim that Apple, for a number of years, invested a considerable amount of time and money on R&D to arrive at the successful iPhone (and iPad) form factor. Conversely, Samsung (and others) R&D may have been limited their R&D to examining teardowns on iFixit.
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All this intense dislike of the rumored iPhone 5 form factor is great.
This is going to make my ordering the new iPhone easy, since EVERYBODY (it seems on MR) hates the design.
This is going to make my ordering the new iPhone easy, since EVERYBODY (it seems on MR) hates the design.
This is about Apple research from before the first iPhone even came out. Are you in the right thread?
I guess they must have known these pictures of the design case would have to be put in the table. Maybe you are right and they don't give a hoot. Still my hut feeling is that this is hurting their core image. But that could be just my impression. It just feels wrong to give people insight into workings behind the scene.
On the other hand Apple has been around for so long, they could open an Apple museum by now! Show how they developed their designs.
I agree these two particular Nokia phones look pretty good. I'd buy them before I went Android. Apple designer, however, testifies that Apple decided to not go with curved glass before gorilla glass was an option. He also says Apple also had to worry about being able to make enough. So the implication is Apple could do a curved body now if it wanted to do so if it could pump out the right volume. I suspect Nokia doesn't' have to ramp up to scale in the same way Apple does.
Further, the iPhone mock ups show both the front and back being curved. Only the Nokia's front is slightly curved.
The lawsuits do more to hurt their core image than the release of a few prototypes that didn't make the cut. I don't even see how this changes anything about Apple's image.
Greg's testimony that they do market research and listen to customer feedback did much more to destroy the "core image" Steve had set up than these.
If a company is failing but comes up with a good idea, then a successful company implementing that feature would be smart to do so.
I'm not saying that Apple should make a curved glass iPhone, but your logic in saying that Apple shouldn't because Nokia (a company that is not doing well in the market) did, is flawed.